BAY CITY, MI — "Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner," Cormac McCarthy wrote in his brutal 1985 novel "Blood Meridian." A century ago, humanity did its utmost to pre-emptively prove this passage correct in launching the first global conflict.

Monday, July 28, marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.

Though it is often overshadowed in the public eye by its even more apocalyptic historic sequel, a group of local men are amassing and sharing artifacts from the Great War to ensure its significance does not fade from memory.

"It's a real big deal," said Mel Smith Jr., director of the Michigan Traveling Military Museum. "This was a nasty, terrible thing, this war. It's a shame it's been forgotten."

World War I officially began July 28, 1914, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. The declaration came exactly one month after Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in the streets of Sarajevo. The killings led to failed back-and-forth diplomacy and numerous dominos falling within the next 30 days, culminating in the outbreak of war.

In the weeks after the declaration, Serbia's ally, the Russian Empire, as well as France, the British Empire and Belgium — the Allied Powers — joined in the fray against Austria-Hungary and their allies, Germany, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, collectively known as the Central Powers. The United States did not join the conflict until 1917, on the Allied Powers' side.

"It made our country," Smith said. "World War I brought us out of our isolation and was a precursor to World War II. All of a sudden, it was like, 'Wow, we're a player.'"

Smith described the war as something of a transitional event in the way wars were conducted, with Napoleonic methods fought with a wellspring of new technology including machine guns, tanks, poison gas and submarines.

Smith, of Frankenlust Township, began collecting war memorabilia in 1976. Several years ago, he was joined by fellow enthusiasts Charles Ray and Jon Dove. Together, they have thousands of items, which they pool in their itinerant museum.

The museum operators have several appearances lined up in the next few months to share their WWI artifacts.

"We felt this was a better way to go than having a brick and mortar establishment," Smith said, explaining that with the traveling format, they need not worry about locals getting bored with a stationary site. "It's a lot more work, but it's lots of fun and we charge nothing. We want people to come and see it."

The following upcoming appearances are scheduled:

Aug. 5-9 during the Bay County Fair at the Bay County Fairgrounds, 800 Livingston St. on Bay City's East Side.

Sept. 20-21 at the Midland Antique Festival at the Midland County Fairgrounds, 6905 Eastman Ave.

Sept. 27-28 at the River of Time Living History Encampment at Veterans Memorial Park in Bay City.

Oct. 3-4 at the Pinconning Branch Library, 218 Kaiser St.

Among the WWI-specific artifacts they have are soldier tunics, medals, discharge papers, helmets, photographs and, perhaps most idiosyncratic, trench art — brass artillery shells with designs hammered into them, souvenirs for returning veterans and used as vases back home.

There are no living veterans of World War I. The last, British citizen Florence Green, died in February 2012 at age 110. The last combat veteran, Claude Choules, who served in the British Royal Navy, also died at age 110 in May 2011.

Many of the WWI items the museum has are linked to area veterans, and each comes with an interesting story.

For example, the museum has the tunic, dog tags, discharge papers and other odds and ends of Andrew Vogel, a Bay City native who joined the U.S. Army in May 1918 and became a member of the nascent U.S. Tank Corps.

"We actually rescued that," Smith said. "That was in an attic of his daughter's house." When the daughter moved to an assisted living facility, an estate sale was planned. One of the people planning it went through an attic crawlspace on a lark and found a box containing the items, Smith said. "That's kind of neat because we rescued it. Without that man looking, that box might still be in the attic and nobody would have ever found it."

Among the rarest WWI pieces are the discharge papers of Arthur Lewis, an English subject who lived in western Michigan and fought in the U.S. Army, but never became an American citizen, and some items from Lawrence Graham from the Detroit area, who served in the Marine Corps.

"In our collection, we have a large amount of items from the North Russian American Expedition," Ray added. "They were nicknamed the Polar Bears."

Ray's grandfather, Edward Harris, was one of the Polar Bears, serving in the medical detachment of the 339th Infantry.

"They were the only U.S. soldiers to fight Russians on Russian soil," said Ray, explaining that this happened as part of the Allied Powers' intervention in the Russian Civil War, a result of the Bolshevik Revolution that was concomitant with the decline of World War I.

The museum has several helmets worn by the Polar Bears. One has the name of the soldier who wore it inscribed inside, William E. Sheehan.

"We try to document as much as we can," Smith said. "It's difficult with the time that has passed. So much time has gone."

Smith said the museum tries to purchase its items, rather than accepting them as donations. "We're working on it constantly," he said. "It costs a lot, but we got to do it."

Ray, who also has his grandfather's diary and collects autographs from veterans of all American wars, said it is imperative for the legacy of World War I not to be dismissed or forgotten.

"They don't teach this in school," he said. "We're trying to save history and keep it together for future reference."

The museum's website, www.mtmm.us, features photographs and information on many of their items as well.